Sacramento Bee names new reporter to cover Roseville, Placer County
A journalist who got her start by reading The Sacramento Bee has joined its newsroom — and serve its subscribers — in a key reporting role.
Nicole Buss became The Bee’s Roseville/Placer County Watchdog Reporter on Feb. 2, joining a team of journalists who keep watch over local taxpayers’ money, attack the news of the day with urgency and work collaboratively with others in the newsroom to amass and analyze data on everything from government payrolls to educational outcomes to crime.
Buss joins The Bee after covering Placer County for Gold Country Media, a network of Sacramento area community news organizations, for nearly two years. She graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in digital media literacy in 2024 and obtained an associate’s degree in journalism from Sierra College in 2021.
“I grew up in Placer County and became an active reader of The Sacramento Bee in high school,” Buss said. “The Bee’s investigative reporting is what inspired me to major in journalism and media literacy in college.”
At Gold Country Media, Buss routinely wrote 10 stories a week, aiming to keep Placer County readers informed about stories that shape their daily lives.
At The Bee, her editors expect her to do the same, while using public records-requests and other journalism tools to shine even more light on local governments, schools and other community institutions. Her editor will be Daniel Hunt, the Bee’s newly named local accountability team leader.
“I am excited to join the team and have the opportunity to provide journalism that gives communities clarity on issues that directly impact them,” Buss said.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 1:29 PM.
